Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

Sometimes I walk down the escalator. Sometimes I just stand.

Sometimes it's the destination that matters. Sometimes it's the journey.

Walking down stairs is actually harder on your joints that walking up stairs. I'm more likely to walk up escalators than down.

Yes in hiking on a tough circular trail, I plan it so the worst parts are uphill, not down. Downhill is a problem with joints, back, and balance.

Gravity is actually fighting you when you walk down--you have to fight to stay upright, and not fall.

If you're a tourist using the Metro system in DC and stand still on the left side of the escalators in/out of the stations, you're likely to be run over by the locals. Communters around here think that storming up and down the escalators is their god-given right.

You'd probably feel right at home, David. :-)

Slow news day? ;-)

Check out Henry Rollins' rant about "airport hell"... I laugh every time I listen to the part about the 'moving sidewalk' horizontal-escalator things.

Very slow news day, Chris. I was on the road, so I was not only short on blogging time but maybe a tad cranky. Why, does it show?

Shelley and Tammy, your point rings true. Nevertheless, we're just talking about a single flight of escalator stairs. (Exceptions: DC and London subway stations extend the concept of "single flight" to Kilimanjaro proportions.)

Stephen, yes, sometimes it's the destination and sometimes it's the journey. But sometimes it's the inertial sacks of protoplasm who block you so you don't get to your destination and your journey consists of staring at their hair loss pattern and listening to them chat on the phone giving away the ending of a TV show you had Tivo-ed.

Maybe it's just me, but the grooves in escalator stairs tend to "moire" for me when I'm looking down on them, so walking down escalators (even when they're not moving) gives me a bit of a headache.

I tend to just stand on escalators if not in a hurry -- unless I sense that people are standing behind me. I also frustrate the bejeezus out of locals by not walking across the street on red lights, even if I know that no one is coming.

For me, it's just an intentional relaxation. But yeah, when my feet are tired, walking down stairs is even more uncomfortable than walking up. (And, BTW, I recall reading that the standard spacing of escalator steps is greater than that of stationary steps, thus making walking them involve more effort and more instability. Maybe someone can factcheck my ass on this one.)

HSE report - 82% of accidents on escalators happen when someone is walking down them rather than static.

On the London Underground you stand on the right, walk on the left and if your'e a tourist don't get top or bottom of the escalator, stop and get out your f****** map.

I am standing on a glass orb that rotates around its axis at approx. 1600 km/h, and that rotates around another, bigger orb at some speed too. So yes, I am going somewhere. Your point being?

And for what it's worth, cranky mofos like you should thank $deity on their bare knees that they're able to witness the beauty of the back of my neck. So there!

I'm somewhat sad to report there is a vast liturature on this question. My recolection is that most of it was written by economists and that they felt that after a couple rounds of peer reviewed articles on the problem the general consensus was that they had the problem solved. I'm actually happy to report I don't recall what they decided upon as the explaination.

Today I suddenly found myself on an escalator (going down! thank you very much), and I walked it. I am crazy like that; sometimes I walk, sometimes I stand still, you never know what to expect next.